An open letter to all gun companies
Posted By matt on October 6, 2010
Dear gun companies,
You are in the business of selling high-priced utility items (aka “appliances”). As such, you will be held to the same standards as everyone else who sells appliances. You are not special. You will adapt or die.
As such, I will no longer be doing business with any gun company which does not have either an email address or web contact form on their website. I do not accept this from people from whom I buy TV’s, food processors, laptops, etc., so I will not accept it from you.
This means that I will not be doing business with:
- Kimber
- Glock
- Taurus
- Colt
- Savage Arms
- Weatherby
- Sig Sauer
- Remington
- (and likely others)
until this situation is remedied.
This means that I will be willing to do business with:
- Springfield Armory
- Kahr
- Bersa
- Smith and Wesson
- CZ / Dan Wesson
- Ruger
- Thompson Center
- STI
- (And likely others, I’m soliciting suggestions)
What started this whole thing is behind the cut…
So, I buy a Taurus PT145. Looks like a great little gun, and it’s backed by a lifetime warranty, right?
Well, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t feed properly, it doesn’t always go into battery, and it doesn’t always fire. That said, it was both first generation and used. So, it likely needed all new springs (recoil, striker, magazines, etc.), and they’ve redesigned the magazines since then. I try Brownell’s.. no parts. I try Taurus’s website.. no parts. I try to email them.. no email. I try to call them after work – they’re only open until 6 eastern. I try to call them from my desk – oh, wait, can’t, it’s a toll number. So, I found myself standing outside in the rain talking to some CS rep over a spotty cell connection. To order parts, I need to call them and either order it over the phone, or get a quote and send an order form with a check – they do not have an email address (I asked).
At this point, I’m convinced that they do not want my repeated business. I’m going to stop by the gun shop after work on Friday, and see what they’ll give me for a working vs. nonworking Taurus and see if it’s worth sending the gun back to them with a “fix it”. (If it’s less than $50 difference, it’s not worth the hassle – I’ll just eat it). I will then take the funds and contemplate a replacement carry gun. (I am soliciting suggestions).
I also am on the fence as to getting rid of my PT 1911. This one does work, but I don’t really like the ambi safety, or the Heinie Straight 8 sights (which is why a replaced them with Novak Fiber Optic sights… which shoot low, and will cost even more to fix..). Once again, I’m soliciting suggestions.
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My wife works for a web design company that caters to jewelry stores, and it’s almost exactly the same situation. They’re an old fashioned specialty industry that sells very expensive consumer goods, but has trouble adjusting to–or appreciating the importance of adjusting to–the internet.
With gun control steadily losing ground, I’m hoping we’ll start to see guns treated more and more as a standard consumer product. With fewer restrictions warping and constraining the market, manufacturers that make themselves accessible may get enough of a competitive advantage that the Tauri and Kimberen will see the necessity of getting on board.
Yeah, I don’t get it. I work for a company where we actually manufacture things, and so I ran it by the (ex army) customer service manager. He’s like:
[shrug] I guess inertia and resistance to change are just what you get in companies whose business models are protected from competition by tradition or regulatory burden.